Modern seatbelts for vehicles include a seatbelt tongue member secured to a webbing that can be pulled out across a vehicle occupant's lap and shoulder. The tongue member is releasably securable to a buckle assembly typically provided on a seat base of a vehicle seat assembly. To make seatbelts easier to use, many vehicle manufacturers apply a buckle boot to the buckle assembly to fix the position of the buckle assembly and thereby make it easier for a user to insert the corresponding tongue member into the buckle assembly. In particular, the buckle boot fixes and inhibits movement of the buckle assembly so the user can insert the tongue member therein with only a single hand. Specifically, the buckle boot is received around at least a lower portion of the seatbelt buckle assembly and a flexible webbing that attaches to the lower end of the seatbelt buckle assembly to the vehicle body. The buckle boot generally inhibits or prevents lateral movement of the seatbelt buckle assembly relative to the webbing and/or relative to the vehicle seat in which the buckle assembly is provided.
Similarly, some vehicle manufacturers use hard stays to fix the location of the buckle housing. The hard stay is a rigid bracket that fixes the location of the buckle assembly relative to the vehicle seat to again enable easier insertion of the tongue member therein. Sometimes, the hard stay will allow for forward and backward pivotal movement. That is, pivotal movement about an axis generally laterally disposed across the width of the vehicle.
Drawbacks associated with the use of the buckle boot and the hard stay include the extra cost to the vehicle manufacturer when supplying these components. Also, in some vehicle seat assemblies, the fixed buckle boot tends to mark the vehicle seat, such as when the seat back is folded relative to the seat base. In particular, the fixed buckle assembly may engage and press into the seat back as the seat back is pivoted relative to the seat base and leave a marking (e.g., roughened score mark, a permanent indentation, etc.) on the seat back, such as along a lateral portion of the seat back.